MEET THE FY16 CORN BOARD CANDIDATES: JIM REED

JULY 2015

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(Posted Mon. Jul 6th, 2015)

This article and podcast are the fourth in a series profiling candidates for the 2016 Corn Board.

Jim Reed places a high value on the important role grassroots input plays in shaping every part of the National Corn Growers Association. With a keen awareness of the importance of valuing corn farmer input, he hopes to serve his peers as a member of the NCGA Corn Board.

“It is beneficial to have gained all of this knowledge and, if you just take it and go back home when you have the opportunity to continue to serve, you aren’t really using that information and background to the best of your abilities,” he said. “If you are one of those people who has the right setup on your operation back home and with your family that you can continue to contribute more, then I think you have the responsibility to try and do that.”

Currently, Reed chairs the NCGA Public Policy Action Team. He previously chaired NCGA’s CornPAC and was a member of its Grassroots Committee and Grower Services Action Team. At the state level, he is a past president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association and former chair of the ICGA Industrial Committee.

“The key to leadership is being able to be a good listener, knowing that a leader has their own ideas and insights,” Reed explained. “It is about what you bring back from the grassroots and what you hear. The collective knowledge of everyone in the organization is so great. You just have to try and communicate with people, get their ideas and try to work hard as a board member to develop those ideas that come from the grassroots into policy.”

Reed and his family farm 1,200 acres of corn and soybeans in addition to performing custom farming operations for his relatives. The proud owner of a centennial farm, his is the fifth generation of his family to farm in his community.